youth. those kids need reduced passes or they need to stay on the back of the bus. we need to think of them as our kids that we need to take care of. it would unite the young people in san francisco. behind me, there are so many young people from so many different backgrounds that want the same goal. i would encourage you to make muni free for all young people. >> vivian. >> good afternoon. i am a junior, so i am a little bit outside of the target range.

i am a prep -- at a private school. this is on ocean and victoria. they have a very diverse economic background with the background and the students and racially and all of that. there are a lot of things that could have divided us. we all take the bus. we all got on at the beginning and the end of the day and when we were trying to sneak out of school and go off lunch for campus. we all took the train. hey, i still see you on the bus. having free muni would create a generation of transit rider. s. by former classmates are all there. that is an investment we can

make into our future. there is a testimony standing right in front of you. there are young kids that maybe you can see standing here in front of you. i hope you can make the decision soon to prioritize future generations. >> next speaker, please. >> hello. i am a member of the adopt an alley way youth project. my birthday was last week. i had to purchase an adult fast pass. i was swept away by the increase in price from $21 to $61. i am advocating for a reduction

for everyone, not just low- income youth. students aged 18 and above ride muni just as much as below those 17 in age. we should not discriminate on their economic burden as well as age. we want to encourage all of the youth to use muni as a form of transportation. it will collectively benefit all of us. we want to factor in environmental as a benefit of the pilot program. thank you. >> thank you. >> vivian, annie, ralph. >> i am part of the adopt an

alleyway. this represents a tiny portion of muni's budget. we have identified a path. the economic recession is hitting the low income families hard. we don't want the issue -- we don't want the burden to be on the shoulders of low-income youth. we have environmental goals that we want to me. hopefully, people would be more inclined to ride muni instead of drive, resulting in less carbon dioxide emissions, which is beneficial to the environment. thank you. >> vivianne, annie, ralph.

>> my name is vivian. i am part of the adopt an alleyway campaign. our question was, do you support free muni for youth? we had many responses. some thought it would reduce the effect of global warming. kids do not make money to pay for transit. many families have financial burdens. kids' jobs is to go to school and get an education. our job is to eliminate any obstacle that stands in their way. >> annie wong. >> good afternoon. >> my name is annie. i am part of the adopt an alleyway campaign academy.

i believe that students are the future. education is free. we rely on transportation to get to school. students are required to go to school. why should they be required to pay to go to school? >> thank you. >> ralph. >> my name is ralph. i am a freshman at the high school as well as a youth leader. with the yellow school buses drastically cut, many will have to rely on muni for transportation. afterschool they walk to chinatown. this is a really long distance, trust me. that's because it's unaffor

dable. when i mean youth, i mean all of them. none of us should feel that muni is a low-income form of transport. >> michele, deron davis. >> good afternoon. >> good afternoon. i am in my junior year in high school. i am here to support free muni for youth. my mom is a single mom. she has two jobs to support my brother and myself. she couldn't afford it. i was thinking of good way to

help my mom. also, to make it family- friendly. thank you for your time. >> my name is sandy. i am here from abraham lincoln high school. i am here for the leadership empowerment program. i am here to support free muni for all youth. transportation is extremely important. without it we would not be able to get to school and received our education. support free muni for all youth. every youth deserves an

opportunity to learn. thank you. >> d michelle greater than deron, juan. >> my name is michelle. i am a senior at galileo academy. >> i am a junior from abraham lincoln high school. i am a leader for youth for a single world leadership empowerment program. >> my family has never been able to drive. i have never woken up and said i am excited to take this bus. i met my friends across the country. they have a new york metro card. they were so excited to go back home and take the bus. i have never had that experience. all youth can take the bus.

and be more excited about it. that can have the experience and have more access to take public transportation. we have identified the funding. i feel if muni was more efficient and move money around to not have so many overtimes, we could have more muni and have more people enjoy it. >> i really support this being for all youth. thank you for listening to parents and us. >> thank you so much. >> deron davis, juan, santiago.

>> my name is davis. i am a sophomore at galileo school of sciences. i think that muni should be free to youth. a lot of youth has to travel a lot of places whether it is going to or from school. just hanging out with friends. a lot of them do not have money to get on the bus all the time. they have to ride the bus for free. >> thank you. i appreciate it. >> juan, enriquez. >> i am the youth organ as sizer

-- organizer with the community organization. i want to make muni free for all young people. we have been here several times over the last few months. we have heard this from young people and families and community members supporting this idea. their struggles to be able to move around the city freely and to all of the things they want to do. we are here as a board to take action. when we first came here in september, we came here to take action. they said it was a good idea, but you need to find funding. they have been doing all of the leg work to find the funding. you have heard that this proposal is only 1% of the entire budget of the mta. this 1% can impact the lives of

47,000 young people. this is not a question of budget. the question is will this mta board step up to the demands of the community? we have been here and we have yet to clearly get a response from the board on whether this is going to be free or reduced. whether it will be for all young people or some young people. we need for this board to stop delaying the vote and the process and to take action. we want to remind you that this is a pro-muni campaign. we went down people to feel a positive relationship to muni. >> my name is alex. i am a junior. i am a part of an organization which stands for solidarity organizing product -- project. as a passenger, i am also a student. i use the bus to get to school

and back. sometimes i do not have the 75 cents to go to school. it is supposed to be free for our country and is required. i come from a low-income family. it is hard to get that 75 cents that we need to get an education. i am here to take a stand for free muni for the youth to get the education that we need. >> next speaker. >> santiago, enriquez. >> good afternoon. i go to the elbow of high school. i am a ninth grader. i am here to talk about my experience with muni.

when i do not have money for muni, i have to hop on the back. i am scared because i might get a fine. when i do not have a money, i will have to wait for a bus that will let me on. unlike the other students that are on time, i am going to have a hard time catching up with my work. it will not just benefit me, but other students across san francisco. families that have economic crisis and are not able to pay for their children. when i see you get fined, i think it is not fair that you should get fiend for hopping on the back when it is not hurting

anybody. it gets me mad. i cannot pay 75 cents for the bus. the officers seize that. i do not know how the officer thinks that they are going to be able to pay for it. if muni were to be free, everything will change. students in san francisco would be able to get to school on time. some youth that held up their families by working, they would be able to get to work on time. this is my experience of the muni. >> cynthia. >> we have another? >> spread the word. free muni for all our youth.

i am a proud part of power. i have been writing muni since i was 3 years old. i remember when they pass was 75 cents. now that i am a senior in high school, it is 75. i have to spend $2 a day just to get to school. it was hard enough to afford the fast pass and dealing with mta giving me a ticket. i resorted to walking to school. $2 is simply too much. because of the skyrocketing prices, other young folks like myself that do not have the money to pay for transportation also have to hop on the back of the bus and get fined.

this is only pushing us away. i believe that young people of low-income backgrounds are entitled to fair treatment. i asked for a vote for this proposal. let young people have free transportation. let young people get to school for free 1 day -- so they can succeed. let them get to the hospital. let them work and earn a living for free. and back home at night for free. i urge you. >> next speaker. >> will. >> my name is william. i am a kid from third street. i go to school on balboa.

the backdoor usually does not open. that gets me late for school. i am facing truancy for that. i am an sop leader. it is an associate of power. we both come here with a common goal. this campaign is to allow the use of san francisco to get free muni rides. what makes a youth different from riding the bus? when you were a child, you became different from being an adult because you have the liberty of the school bus. all we are asking for is free muni. may you please give that to us.

we know that you guys are tired and so are we. could we get an unchangeable date? >> this will be on april 3. it will be on the agenda. that request is answered. next speaker. >> tina, david, victoria. >> good afternoon. >> i am a junior at balboa high school. i am a part of the solidarity organizing project. we work together. personally, every day is a struggle for me to find 75

cents. the fact that i do not live with both my parents because they are separated is a struggle for the family i am living with. they have kids of their own to take care of to give them bus fare money. i felel like if public education is free, it should be a free ride for all of our youth in the morning. thaknk you. >> david followed by victoria, amy. >> my name is david. i am a member of community youth center of san francisco. i am here to support free muni for youth.

i have had a lot of problems with money. it costs $21. if you buy for 12 months, it would cost a total of $252. i have trouble paying for that. all of my other family members had trouble, too. not to mention my mom and uncles. they had to pay $62 a month because they could not pay for car insurance and everything else. they take. bus. $744 per parent. for low-income families, it is a lot to pay. we hope that you will help us. >> and victoria followed by amy. >> my name is victoria. i am a sophomore at galileo high

school. this is a part of the community youth center. i support free muni for youth. i do not think that kids should have to pay to go to school. public education is free, but public transportation is not. >> amy followed by roberto. >> my name is amy. i am also a peer leaderin young asian women against violence. i am here today to support free muni for youth. many families cannot afford muni passes. many families have low income.

they do not have enough to pay for muni passes. it is enough to find food for their families. many cannot find jobs because our economy is struggling. >> this is followed by ro berto. paulo is the last person. >> my name is paulo. i come from balboa high school. i am a junior. i would like to say thank you for having this meeting finally. having a father who pays child support and has five other kids, it is hard for me to ask for bus

money. having a mother who works all night, i feel bad asking for money. i walk all the way from west lake because i had no bus money. if muni is supposed to be safe for everybody, why do i feel unsafe for somebody that will give me a $109 a ticket for jumping on the back. all i can say is let's get this done and spread the word, spread the truth. free muni for all our youth. >> we have heard from everyone who chose to address the board. i will declare the public hearing part over.

it is time for the board members to talk about priorities. they give to everybody who spent the afternoon with us. we appreciate the testimony. especially the students and parents who are with us today. we take it very, very seriously. i would like to ask my colleagues to talk about this one. we have a number of revenue items. this board has to give the staff some sense of how we should approach it and how it should be on april 3 the next time we see it. that will include your recommendations. members of the board. >> i was at a lot of the budget breakout meetings. if we are looking at the possible additional revenue sources, this is the one that we have already discussed.

the meter banking. i know that director lee would be speaking up for this one. i think it is a wise choice to put this off. we have the next study. it was handed to each of us. i think it makes sense to hold off on the meter banking fee. the citation increase, it has been increased again by the state. we cannot continue to absorber that one. that will have to be passed on. parking meters into the evening in select neighborhoods in selected areas. we are lucky with this one. oakland tried to do this and it did not work. they didn't have the data to back it up. they could not show what kind of

impact it would have on the business district. we do have a lot of the background and information. it does make a lot of sense to approach this as a neighborhood by neighborhood thing. we know not every meter needs to go from 6:00 until 9:00 or 10:00. it could help the business district. certain neighborhoods are going to embrace this. as we see how it works neighborhood by neighborhood, we will be able to move forward to other neighborhoods. the charge for parking, we thank the director for clarifying that. it is not so much that they oppose paying for the meters on sunday, it is so that they can buy enough time to talk about their service or anything that happens after the church service. should we should absolutely facilitate that if we can.

it could be a situation where the areas that we need those meter time limits to be extended, we might not have the right meters in place for that to be extended. it could require work on our part. as long as we take that into consideration that people can buy more time. adding more parking meter spaces, that makes sense to me. we already have an idea of where that is going to go. i am going to skip the last one. that would make sense as well. we do not think that